Appliances, such as ovens, often have one or more racks generally within the appliance. For example, the racks can be useful for the placing of cookware, food, and other items, within the oven. The racks can place the cookware generally towards the middle of the oven, and can keep the cookware away from heating elements and the like. In addition, ovens with multiple racks allow for placement of cookware on a variety of levels within the oven, thereby increasing the total volume of available cooking.
The racks are often supported by ledges formed along the inner walls of the oven. The racks are then movable in and out of the oven on the ledges. This allows the racks to be removed from the oven for cleaning or for other purposes. Often, the racks may be partially removed from the oven so as to allow easier access to items placed on the racks. The ledges also facilitate vertical adjustment of the racks within the oven cavity.
Appliance racks, and specifically oven racks, are often of wire form construction. More specifically, an outer wire frame and a support platform, which is constituted by a plurality of fore-to-aft and laterally spaced wires, define a typical oven rack. The wires are substantially evenly spaced across the entire rack for use in supporting food items to be cooked.
Turning initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, a known prior art rack 110 for an appliance, such as an oven, is illustrated. The oven rack 110 is located within an interior oven cavity 100. The oven cavity 100 is defined by a rear wall 102 and opposed side walls 104 (only one shown). The opposed side walls 104 include downward-facing projections 126 formed within corresponding guide rails 125. At least one protrusion, such as a fan assembly 106, light assembly 108 or the like, projects into the oven cavity 100 from the rear wall 102 to limit the space available for the oven rack 110 and items supported thereon.
The known oven rack 110 includes a frame 112 supporting a plurality of bars 114 and an optional cross-member 116. The frame 112 comprises a front edge 118 and an upwardly extending rear edge 120 joined by first and second side edges 122, 124. However, the upwardly extending rear edge 120 acts as a stop for item(s) placed on the oven rack. Further, the protrusions 106, 108 limit the distance that the rear edge 120 can extend into the oven cavity 100. For instance, when cookware, such as a cookie sheet 128, is placed on the rack, the cookie sheet 128 stops when a rear edge of the cookie sheet 128 contacts the upwardly extending rear edge 120 of the oven rack 110, thereby limiting a size of cookie sheet 128 that can be positioned on the rack 110 (i.e., the edge of the cookie sheet 128 extends beyond the front edge 118 of the rack 110). FIG. 2 further illustrates an interference between the conventional oven rack 110 and a cookie sheet 128 that is small enough to fit within the oven cavity but too large to fit on the conventional rack 110. For example, a large amount of wasted oven space is located between the cookie sheet 128 and the rear wall 102, as is shown by distance D1. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for an improved rack.